31 Mar 2013
11 Mar 2013
Support the Syrian rebels…. Not!
The Insurgents in Syria the FSA have uploaded a video of themselves beating, torturing and humiliating an old man, known around Aleppo as the 'yellow man' for wearing all yellow. They accuse him of snitching about them to the Army, as they beat and harass him. In 2010 he was a small time celebrity around Aleppo. "I chose yellow because it's a colour that gives people happiness and joy. People loved me from the beginning and I want to repay them that love. "
24 Dec 2012
From football striker to teen Syrian rebel
Like all soldiers, their minds are full of memories of what they left behind and reflections on the nature of war, its stark contrasts of life and death.
Abdel Khader, a red scarf framing his boyish face, is too young legally to drive, but “don’t let my age fool you. I’ve been fighting for five months and have killed a number of soldiers,” he says. His school closed because of the fighting that has rocked Syria since March 2011 and that observers say has cost more than 44,000 lives.
“Every day I watched on television how the army was killing innocent people, and I didn’t want to stay at home waiting for them to kill us also. I remember the day I decided to go off to fight, and my parents began to cry. I speak to them once a week to let them know I’m okay, but my mother always cries when we say goodbye.”
10 Nov 2012
Syrian rebels 'kill unarmed man'
Footage has emerged of what appears to be opposition fighters killing an unarmed man in the Syrian village of Harem. Rebels went house-to-house targeting people they say were loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and his army.
The United Nations has said both government forces and rebels are guilty of war crimes, including prisoner executions, and the latest video appears to be yet more evidence. It could not have come at a worse time for Syria's diverse rebel factions, who are trying to persuade the world's governments they are worth supporting.
8 Nov 2012
Call to lift Syria arms embargo to aid rebels
Britain is to review the EU arms embargo on Syria as part of a wholesale change in strategy in the wake of Barack Obama's re-election that could lead to the eventual arming of the rebel forces fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad. As David Cameron said he would press Obama to make Syria a priority, No 10 officials indicated that the prime minister now wants to put every possible measure to remove Assad "back on the table".
Cameron's visit to the Zaatari Syrian refugee camp in Jordan on Wednesday, in which he heard "appalling stories" of suffering, persuaded him that Britain and its allies need to review their strategy, a source said. Britain's national security council will discuss the crisis in special session next week. It will include a review of the EU ban on providing weapons to all sides in Syria. Officials say that the embargo includes the principle of "proportionality" which suggests the restriction could be relaxed in the event of a humanitarian disaster.
Evidence of a British rethink on the crisis came on a day when rebels fired mortars at a presidential palace in Damascus and as different elements of the divided Syrian opposition met in the Qatari capital Doha to try to close ranks and form a transitional government for the post-Assad era.
The Guardian - Why arming Syrian rebels is a bad idea (Politico)
18 Oct 2012
5,000 rapes in 2012 as unrest engulfs DR Congo
Some 5,000 women have been raped this year in the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern province of North Kivu as a new rebellion has sown fresh unrest in the conflict-prone region, a local hospital said Thursday. "The number of rapes has risen dramatically: we have registered around 5,000 women raped since the start of the year in North Kivu. It's very dramatic," said Justin Paluku, an obstetrician and gynaecologist at the Heal Africa hospital in Goma, the provincial capital.
Renewed instability has engulfed the region since a group of soldiers mutinied from the army in April and began battling their former colleagues and sowing terror in the east. The group, the M23, was formed by former fighters in an ethnic Tutsi rebel group that was integrated into the army under a 2009 peace deal whose terms the mutineers claim were never fully implemented.
Its members have been raping women and girls, abducting young men and boys to fight with them, and carrying out summary executions, including the killing of young recruits who tried to escape, according to the United Nations and rights groups.
30 Sept 2012
Historic Aleppo burning
Fires sparked by clashes between Syrian government troops and rebels raged through the medieval marketplace of Aleppo on Saturday, destroying hundreds of shops lining the vaulted passageways where foods, fabrics, perfumes and spices have been sold for centuries, activists said.
Some described the overnight blaze as the worst blow yet to a historic district that helped make the heart of Syria's largest city and commercial hub of the UNESCO world heritage site.
The souk, a labyrinth of narrow alleys lined with shops, was once a major tourist attraction, but has been the scene of near-daily firefights and shelling in recent weeks after rebels who fought their way into the city two months ago pushed toward its centre.
Activists say regime troops and snipers have taken up positions in the citadel that dominates the city.
2 Aug 2012
Obama authorized covert support for Syrian rebels
President Barack Obama has signed a covert directive authorizing U.S. support for Syrian rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces, U.S. officials told CNN on Wednesday. The secret order, referred to as an intelligence "finding," allows for clandestine support by the CIA and other agencies. It was unclear when the president signed the authorization for Syria, but the sources said it was within the past several months.
18 Jul 2012
Russia accuses West of inciting Syrian rebels
The United Nations Security Council has postponed until Thursday a vote on a Western-backed resolution that threatens Syrian authorities with sanctions in a bid to end the 16-month conflict, Russia's UN envoy said.
"A possible vote has been postponed until tomorrow morning," Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador, told reporters after a meeting of the envoys of the council's five permanent members, adding that further talks on the measure would be held on Wednesday.
International envoy Kofi Annan had requested the delay amid differences between Moscow and the resolutions's Western sponsors over whether Damascus should be threatened with sanctions.
Russia has vowed to veto the resolution drawn up by Britain, with the backing of France, United States, Germany and Portugal. The resolution proposes non-military sanctions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter if President Bashar al-Assad does not halt the use of heavy weapons within 10 days of a resolution being passed.
Al Jazeera - Syria rebels form death squad, behead army soldiers (PressTV)
7 Apr 2012
Mali rebels declare independence of Azawad nation
Mali’s Tuareg rebels declared independence of an Azawad nation on Friday, as the political crisis in the country showed no signs of abating. Tuareg forces seized control of the country’s north in the chaotic aftermath of a military coup in the capital, Bamako.
“We, the people of the Azawad,” they said in a statement, “proclaim the irrevocable independence of the state of the Azawad starting from this day, Friday, April 6, 2012.”
Mali’s African neighbours have said they are planning military action to push the rebels back, as well as to restore constitutional rule elsewhere. France, which has already said it is willing to offer logistical support for a military invasion, said yesterday that it does not recognize the new Tuareg state. “A unilateral declaration of independence that is not recognized by African states means nothing for us,” said French defence minister Gerard Longuet. The European Union agreed.
22 Dec 2011
South Sudanese 'press-ganged' by rebels in Khartoum
Young South Sudanese men living in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, are being forcibly conscripted by militia groups, numerous sources have told the BBC. It is alleged they are forced to fight for rebels in South Sudan, which split from the north in July.
South Sudan's information minister believes Khartoum is directing the rebel groups and the kidnappings. A senior official in Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's party told the BBC the accusation was "nonsense". It is feared the alleged abductions will worsen the already fragile relationship between the two countries.
According to South Sudanese community leaders, church workers in Khartoum and politicians in South Sudan, men have been snatched from universities, the streets and even their homes by armed gangs. "The attitude of recruiting South Sudanese university students into the military by the Khartoum regime is an irresponsible exercise," South Sudan's Minister of Information Barnaba Marial Benjamin has said.
22 Oct 2011
India's Silent War
A 40-year long civil war has been raging in the jungles of central and eastern India. It is one of the world's largest armed conflicts but it remains largely ignored outside of India. Caught in the crossfire of it are the Adivasis, who are believed to be India's earliest inhabitants. A loose collection of tribes, it is estimated that there are about 84 million of these indigenous people, which is about eight per cent of the country's population.
For generations, they have lived off farming and the spoils of the jungle in eastern India, but their way of life is under threat. Their land contains mineral deposits estimated to be worth trillions of dollars. Forests have been cleared and the Indian government has evacuated hundreds of villages to make room for steel plants and mineral refineries.
The risk of losing everything they have ever known has made many Adivasis fertile recruits for India's Maoist rebels or Naxalites, who also call these forests home. The Maoists' fight with the Indian government began 50 years ago, just after India became independent. A loose collection of anti-government communist groups - that initially fought for land reform - they are said to be India's biggest internal security threat. Over time, their focus has expanded to include more fundamental questions about how India is actually governed.
More (with video) on Al Jazeera English – More on Indian Vanguard
24 Aug 2011
22 Aug 2011
Gaddafi Regime Crumbling
In the Washington Post, David Ignatius writes that Gaddafi's family has reportedly been moving money and assets outside Libya over the past five days.
A sign that the implosion may at last be happening is the reported transfer of money. Some of it has gone to Algerian accounts, according to a source in contact with the banking network that is said to be conducting the transactions.
Today 8:23 AM Clashes Break Out Near Gaddafi Compound, Tanks Firing
Heavy clashes have broken out near Moammar Gadhafi's compound in the Libyan capital.
Rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Rahman says that tanks emerged from the complex, known as Bab al-Aziziya, early Monday and began firing.
An Associated Press reporter at the nearby Rixos Hotel where foreign journalists are staying could hear gunfire and loud explosions that have been going on for more than 30 minutes.
Live Blog on The Guardian and BBC and Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya
31 Jul 2011
Rebel General Shot By Islamist Militia
An Islamist militia allied to Libya's rebel opposition is behind the death of their military commander Abdel Fattah Younes, a National Transitional Council minister has said.
Ali Tarhouni, who is the finance and oil minister for the NTC, recently recognised by several countries including Britain as the legitimate Libyan authority, said Younes was killed by a group known as the Obaida Ibn Jarrah Brigade. General Younes defected to the rebels in February after the beginning of the Libyan uprising. He had served under Gaddfi since the revolution of 1969. Younes body was found shot and burned with those of two of his aides on Friday.
"His lieutenants did it," said Tarhouni, according to the Reuters news agency. If true, the revelation will cast fresh doubt on the rebels' ability to fight as a group and form a stable government. It will also be troubling for British Foreign Secretary William Hague and others who have publicly put their faith in the rebels. Hague announced on Wednesday that Britain would recognise the NTC as the representative government of Libya after similar announcements by the US and French governments.
The decision was mocked by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, who said that the slaying of Younes was "a slap in the face" to the British government. "By this act, al-Qaeda wanted to mark out its presence and its influence in this region."
11 Feb 2011
Clashes between South Sudan army & rebels kill 105
Clashes between rebels and south Sudanese troops in troubled Jonglei state have killed 105 people, a southern army spokesman said on Friday, a dramatic jump from an earlier death toll of 16. "On the side of the military that includes the SPLA, the police and the prison services, 20 were killed in Fangak town, while 30 of Athor's men were killed," said Philip Aguer.
He was referring to renegade southern general George Athor whose supporters launched a spate of attacks on troops of the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army on Wednesday, shattering a "permanent ceasefire" they signed just last month. Al Arabiya